Give us justice

THE aunt of murdered woman, Jamila Chase, is calling on Police Commissioner Gary Griffith to end the cycle of violence with proper police investigations.

In a telephone interview on Saturday, the aunt, who did not want to be named, said Chase, 23, was killed for her generosity. She was at her Building 9, Maloney Gardens home on November 23 when gunmen stormed in and shot her dead along with Michael “Grimey” Walker and Khareem “Critters” Mc Eachrane.

Police said, around 5 am they responded to a report of gunshots at the apartment and found the three dead. The killings are being described as gang related.

It is believed the killers were looking for Chase’s cousin who survived the attack. Chase’s aunt said her niece’s cousin was released from prison in September and needed a place to stay so she offered him the spare bedroom. Chase was buried on Friday.

“Her father couldn’t come for the funeral. He was planning to surprise her and come for his grandson’s birthday and spend the Christmas with her. He said his last sight of his daughter could not be her going down in a hole.”

Chase, she said, usually spent weekends at her mother’s home down the islands and was not supposed to be home the day she was murdered while she slept.

“What justice are we getting? It’s been a week and no one has spoken to her cousin who was at the apartment when this happened. I don’t want this to die, I want justice for her and for the police to do better.”

Chase’s son will turn five on December 6, she said, and as her parents’ only child, seeing their grandchild was just a continued painful memory of the loss they suffered.

“This was an innocent person that was killed. We deserve justice and someone needs to be in custody. Why would someone openly admit to knowing who the killers are and not be interviewed by the police? This is just a cycle of violence. I am pleading with the Commissioner because it starts at the top. This can’t be the way.

"She was spoilt and jovial. She went by her mother one day and took her ham and took a pic sticking out her tongue and sent it to her mother. I haven’t stopped crying, her mother has not gotten out of bed for the day, you have no idea how broken we are. This (violence) needs to stop.”

She said proper policing will save the country from seeking their own justice which results in collateral damage and the death of other innocent citizens. The retaliatory solving of crime has not helped, she said, adding that the “leaving them to kill out each other” method of addressing violent crimes in “certain areas” is not working as the crime is spilling out into other areas.

Chase’s cousin told Newsday last week about the moments leading up to her murder.

“It was minutes to four. Them fells come and check me and we was liming and it get late so they sleep over. When I hear the first shot, I jump off the bed because I does sleep light. One man kick open my cousin door, she is more like a sister than a cousin, and shoot she. A next one kick open my door but when he didn't see anyone on the bed he come out the room went back in and shoot she again.”

One of the suspected killers was identified on Crime Watch as being wanted dead or alive.